Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean

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Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean

2012

1h 33m

Drama

LGBTQ+

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Popcornmeter

60%

Tomatometer

5 Reviews

60%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

The life and work of outsider icon James Dean.

David Wiegand

San Francisco Chronicle

The movie is art and borders on art-film pretentiousness here and there, but there's no question that it's also mesmerizing and sexy.

Jul 16, 2013

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Alissa Simon

Variety

A prologue featuring French poet Rimbaud underlines Mishory's vision of the American actor as part of a line of iconoclastic artists. But his pre-fame Dean seems more sullen brat than talented maverick.

Jan 22, 2013

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Richard Knight

Windy City Times

Mishory's film walks the same forlorn street as that of Bruce Weber's 1988 Chet Baker documentary, Let's Get Lost, and shares its palpable fascination for an iconic individual cursed by both beauty and artistic genius.

Jul 16, 2013

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Terrence Butcher

PopMatters

Matthew Mishory's A Portrait of James Dean: Joshua Tree, 1951, some will argue, is a triumph of style over substance.

Rated: 6/10

Jul 16, 2013

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Jessica Baxter

Film Threat

Its beauty is marred whenever it opens its mouth.

Rated: 2/5

Jan 22, 2013

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Audience Member

Its beauty is marred whenever it opens its mouth.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

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Audience Member

Gorgeous cinematography derailed by an incoherent story and poor acting and too much "style".

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

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Audience Member

I'm not sure how I feel about fictionalized speculation about the sexuality of a dead celebrity, but I did enjoy the artistry and acting.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

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Audience Member

At times pretentious, but enough good in it to make it watchable. Great b&w photography.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

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Audience Member

A portrait of pre-fame James Dean as a poetry-quoting bisexual gigolo who dabbles in S&M. Beautifully shot but badly acted, this is celebrity necrophilia dressed up in the shroud of Art.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

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Audience Member

Boring and uninteresting to a degree I didn't know existed.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

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Matthew Mishory

Director

James Preston

James Dean

Dan Glenn

The Roommate

Erin Daniels

The Roommate's Mother

Rafael Morais

João

Clare Grant

Beverly

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Synopsis

The life and work of outsider icon James Dean.

Director: Matthew Mishory
Screenwriter: Matthew Mishory
Genre: Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 22, 2016
Runtime: 1h 33m